At the Chrysler Corporation for 1966. the emphasis was on performance and style. Let’s check out the freshly redesigned Plymouth Satellite.
At Chrysler in 1966, the Plymouth division had all the right ingredients to conquer the muscle car category, one could argue, including the brutish 426 CID Street Hemi V8 and the equally beefy Torqueflite 727 automatic and New Process A-883 four-speed manual transmissions. All the carmaker lacked, really, was the proper badging and branding to sell the muscle. The badging would come a little later with the GTX in ’67 and the Road Runner in ’68. But for ’66, Plymouth’s B-body intermediate models were limited to the Belvedere I, Belvedere II, and Belvedere Satellite, with the Satellite perched at the top of the product line.
While the ’66 Satellite was not marketed as a muscle car per se, as we will see, it did feature snazzy vinyl bucket seats and a chrome-covered center console (a floor shifter was optional). Body styles on the 116-inch wheelbase platform included a two-door hardtop and a convertible, while the powertrain options included a 383 CID V8 Commando V8 with 325 hp and the aforementioned 426 Hemi brute. The exterior sheet metal was all new for ’66, too, providing a crisp, clean look that still holds up well. See the ’66 Satellite in closer detail (and relive your awkward teen years) in the original Plymouth spot below.
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